Method of communicating between layers of a protocol stack and apparatus therefor

1. A method of communicating between layers of a protocol stack, the method comprising:

generating message data for communicating between a first layer and a second layer of the protocol stack, wherein the first layer is a lower layer than the second layer in the protocol stack;

receiving a packet as part of non-synthetic traffic by the first layer;

incorporating the message data into the received packet by appending a header recognizable by the second layer, the header comprising the message data and additional destination options, the packet conforming to a data structure definition supporting extendible schemas;

receiving the packet at the second layer; and

extracting the message data in response to recognizing the header.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the packet is an Internet Protocol (IP) packet.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the header is an extendible header.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:

forming the data unit in accordance with the data structure definition expressly for an inter-layer communication of the message data.

5. A method of supporting a virtual channel for communicating data between layers of a protocol stack, the method comprising the method of communicating between layers of a protocol stack as claimed in claim 1 .

6. A method of communicating between layers of a protocol stack, the method comprising:

receiving at a second layer a packet of non-synthetic traffic formed in accordance with a data structure definition supporting an extendible schema;

identifying in the packet a header appended by a first layer and recognizable by the second layer, wherein the first layer is a lower layer than the second layer in the protocol stack, the header comprising additional destination options and message data relating to an inter-layer communication; and

extracting the message data in response to recognizing the header.

7. An apparatus for communicating between layers of a protocol stack, the apparatus comprising:

a microprocessor and memory arranged to generate message data for communication between layers of the protocol stack;

wherein the microprocessor and memory are arranged to receive a packet at a first layer of the protocol stack as part of non-synthetic traffic and to incorporate the message data into the received packet by appending a header recognizable by a destination layer, wherein the first layer is lower than the destination layer in the protocol stack, the header comprising the message data and additional destination options, the packet conforming to a data structure definition supporting an extendible schema.